


all this and heaven too

by thetomlinsonnetwork



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Teachers, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-18
Updated: 2015-05-18
Packaged: 2018-03-30 12:07:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3936175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thetomlinsonnetwork/pseuds/thetomlinsonnetwork
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zayn is a new high school physics teacher, and his students are struggling with the math involved. He asks the math department for help with tutoring, and gets a lot more than he bargained for (read: he gets Niall). Featuring the whole gang!</p>
            </blockquote>





	all this and heaven too

**Author's Note:**

  * For [allyoursnocontrol](https://archiveofourown.org/users/allyoursnocontrol/gifts).



> So there are a million teacher AUs, I know, but they’re always like Zayn is an English teacher, Louis is a Drama teacher, everyone else is like a gym teacher or something and I am tired of people hating on science like Zayn is such a huge nerd!!!! He could totally be a science teacher so yes that’s where this came from. Written for the 1dExchangeForAll, and specifically for @allyoursnocontrol. I was a pinch hitter so it was a little rushed so I’m sorry it’s not longer but hopefully you like it!! 
> 
> Shout out to cats who encouraged me and bounced ideas with me this whole time!!! 
> 
> Warnings: alcohol consumption, smoking, a little bit disordered eating, anxiety, no actual sex scene which is weird for me tbh
> 
> Title from Florence + The Machine, which has nothing to do with this fic except that I listened to it a lot while writing it

 “I tell you every day, Zayn, the first seven minutes of my free period are off limits. Every day,” Louis sighs.

 

“I just don’t understand why they don’t understand,” Zayn says forlornly, ignoring Louis’ grumbling. He tries not to be jealous of Lou’s sandwich. Zayn hasn’t really eaten since he’d graded his students’ tests on Monday. “Why don’t they get it? I got it when I was their age.” Zayn’s gone through four packs of cigarettes since Monday, too.

 

“I’m starting to think that going into teaching was a bad career move for you,” Louis says helpfully. “It’s sort of your job to make them get it."

 

“I’m a physics teacher, Louis! I’m supposed to teach them about the mysteries of space and time,” Zayn says importantly, waving his hands. “The laws that govern the entire universe, the - “

 

“Nah, I’m pretty sure you’re just supposed to teach them about gravity, let’s not get carried away.” Louis helps himself to Zayn’s sandwich, as he always does when Zayn is too miserable to eat. Which is sort of often.

 

“Yeah, well. Excuse me for trying to keep the intellectual spirit alive. I wouldn’t expect a chemistry teacher to understand,” Zayn sniffs, ignoring Louis’ rather painful kick to his shin. He slumps down further in his seat. “It doesn’t make any sense. I have extra help sessions after school every week. The conceptual stuff they love, but when it comes to actually solving the equations - which they set up correctly, by the way, because I’m a great fucking teacher, Louis - they, like, add two plus two and give five.” Louis raises his eyebrows. “Well, okay, not that bad, but honestly it’s like they’ve never taken a math class,” Zayn shakes his head.

 

“Why don’t you ask if one of the math teachers can help out with your extra help? Extra extra help,” Louis suggests. “Since you’re incapable of teaching your students basic math skills.”

 

Zayn rolls his eyes. “I have bigger and better things to teach them than algebra,” he sighs, wrinkling his nose. “But do you really think that would be okay? It wouldn’t be, like, a bad look on me? I’ve only been teaching here a month and a half, I don’t want to give the impression that I’m a bad teacher. Am I a bad teacher?” By the end of his worrying Zayn has slumped so far down that he’s slipped off his chair entirely. He decides that he likes it better here under the table anyway. It feels cozy, he thinks. Safer.

 

“Zayn. Please. Half your class comes to your help sessions for fun because you’ve got them so interested in physics. I think you’re doing fine.”

 

Zayn asks in a small voice, “Then why was the average on my first test a 37?”

 

 

“Because physics is hard, bro. Just get some old math teacher to beat some sense into them, that’s all. If they’re traumatized they’ll just like you better in comparison anyway,” Louis offers.

 

Zayn visibly brightens and even considers getting out from underneath his table, until a voice behind him asks, “Uh, Mr. Malik? I had a question about the homework, but if you’re, um, busy, I can come back...later…”

 

\---

 

After prolonging his lab prep time and then messing with Louis’ lab prep (slightly more risky since his own lab is with ping pong balls while Louis’ involves actual chemicals), Zayn finally works up the courage to email the head of the math department and ask for some (desperately needed) help.

 

She emails him back last period and lets him know that a Niall Horan has volunteered to help out at his extra help session this afternoon. Zayn hasn’t heard of him, but is immediately suspicious of anyone who’d be so quick to give up their Friday afternoon to teach math. There’s only about twenty minutes til the end of the day so Zayn hasn’t got time to stalk the teachers’ roster for this guy before setting up. He’ll just have to remain a mystery.

 

The students who have last period off start trickling in as he’s moving the desks around into a semicircle. He points the kids towards the ballot box at the front of the room to cast their votes (really it’s just a shoebox with some pictures of Einstein taped on) while he tries to turn on the overhead projector hanging from the ceiling. It usually takes him a good five minutes to get it running, since his method is to press all the buttons and see what happens. He’s asked Louis for help with it during his first week, but Louis’ classroom doesn’t have a projector yet, and Zayn’s too scared to ask his boss.

 

Though he probably looks pretty stupid balanced on top of a desk like this anyway.

 

As if to illustrate this, an unfamiliar voice floats in from the doorway. “Um...everything alright there?”

 

“Did you vote yet?” Zayn asks the newcomer, trying to will his blush away because he is a teacher and shouldn’t be embarrassed in front of his students.

 

“Uh...vote for what?”

 

Zayn belatedly realizes that this isn’t one of his students, this is an actual Adult, this is probably the math teacher. He promptly loses his balance.

 

“Woah!” Probably-Niall’s hands reach up to Zayn’s thighs to steady him on the desk, and Zayn loses the battle against his blush as he finally takes his hands off the damn projector and looks down. And. Wow. Probably-Niall is approximately 20 years younger than Zayn had expected. Also, he still has his hands on Zayn’s thighs and also Zayn should probably explain himself.

 

“Thanks! Um. My name is Zayn Malik,” he says. He holds out a hand for Probably-Niall to shake but it’s a bit too far to reach from his position up so high, so he just kind of. Stops.

 

“Niall Horan. Why are you on that of a desk?” he asks. Niall has messy blond hair and crinkly blue eyes. Zayn hates everything.  “And what am I voting for?”

 

“I’m, um, turning on the projector,” Zayn explains defensively.

 

“You know there’s a remote for that by your computer, right?” Niall’s smile makes his eyes crinkle even more. Zayn pretends that Niall isn’t laughing at him.

 

“Um. Oh. No.”

 

Niall finally takes pity on him. “Here, I’ll show you,” he says kindly, moving towards the computer. Unfortunately this means taking his hands off Zayn’s legs. Zayn mechanically gets off the desk and realizes that there are still students in the room. Excellent, really excellent.

 

Niall punches a few buttons and Zayn’s powerpoint flickers onto the screen at the front of the room, complete with the requisite picture of Einstein sticking his tongue out. “You still haven’t told me what I’m voting for,” Niall reminds him, poking him accusingly in the chest. Niall is doing a lot of touching for someone who has just met him, Zayn thinks. Of course some of that touching probably saved Zayn from a concussion at the very least. That’s the only reason Zayn doesn’t mind, obviously.

 

Niall’s still waiting with eyebrows raised expectantly. “Oh! Um, at the beginning of each extra help, I do a little lesson on the cooler sides of physics, the stuff you read about in the papers or see in the movies. Like antimatter and black holes and all that. And the students can vote on which topic they want.” Zayn smiles self-consciously. He’d thought it was a genius idea, but it will probably make Niall think Zayn’s trying too hard to be cool.

 

“That’s awesome!!” Niall’s face stretches into an open mouthed grin, and Zayn smiles dopily back. “I will definitely go vote.” He makes a show of secretly folding his ballot while Zayn hides an even dopier smile behind his hand. Niall then goes to the back of the room to sit, and Zayn has a bit of anxiety as he realizes that Niall will be watching him give a presentation completely off the top of his head.

 

Luckily, the winning topic turns out to be the CERN Large Hadron Collider, where Zayn had actually visited for a week as part of his undergrad program, so he wows the kids (and hopefully Niall) with facts about the construction and sheer size of the LHC. He loves these lessons, loves when he gets to show the kids how cool physics really is. How once you understand the basics, the whole world opens up to you. He can’t beat the thought that his kids’ difficulties with the math might turn them off of the whole field of physics before they even get a chance to really start. He sneaks a glance at Niall’s face when he tells them that the accelerator tunnel is over 17 miles long and spans the French-Swiss border, and feels proud at the impressed look he finds.

 

“And based on the size and strength and direction and everything of the collision, researchers can use the known acceleration of the original particle to learn more about these other subatomic particles. Which brings us back to this week’s lesson - acceleration!” He pretends he doesn’t hear the groans as he goes over the kinematics formulas again. “However, since all but one of you got the calculations for the last problem on our exam wrong, we have a, um, special guest here today to help us out with some math.” He looks over to Niall, who waves cheerily at the class.

 

“Right. Well first I’d like to say that I really enjoyed that at the beginning, I really learned a lot.” Niall sends a soft smile Zayn’s way as he slides out of his desk and makes his way to the front of the room. “But now, down to business. Has anyone here not taken Trig 1 yet?”

 

\---

 

Niall’s great with the students, has them really focusing and asking questions and it all makes Zayn feel a little bit inadequate until he reminds himself that he’s not a math teacher. He spends the rest of class being very careful not to stare at the way the back of Niall’s shirt stretches across his shoulders.

 

Eventually he has to end the lesson so that the kids have enough time to catch the late bus. As they file out the door, they manage to rope Niall into promising to come to next week’s session, too. Niall laughs as they beg and plead with him, unable to keep a straight face once he spots Zayn doing a bad job of hiding his own laughter.

 

It’s disconcertingly quiet in the classroom once the door closes behind the last student. “Thanks,” says Zayn, ducking his head, as he comes over to stand next to the desk Niall’s sat upon. “I really appreciate you going out of your way to help me with this.” He looks up to meet Niall’s eyes.

 

“No problem, Zayn,” Niall laughs. “Half these kids are my students now anyway. We just haven’t gotten to the advanced stuff yet, so teaching them in advance will make my life easier in the long run anyway.” He leans over to pick up his backpack and then hops down from the table. Zayn hoists his messenger bag onto his shoulder as well.

 

It turns out they park in the same lot, and they walk together as Niall asks how long Zayn’s been working here (one month) and Zayn asks the same of Niall (two years, give or take) and how Niall likes it.

 

“It’s awesome,” Niall tells him, grinning. “It’s my first teaching job, so I can’t really compare it to other schools or anything, but the kids here are great.”

 

“I’ve never met a math teacher before,” Zayn blurts. “Do you know, before I saw you today I was expecting, like, a forty year old with a pocket protector and all?” Zayn hates himself immediately and vows to never attempt to make a joke for the rest of his life.

 

To Zayn's surprise, Niall throws his head back and laughs. His eyes are sparkling once he opens them and trains them back on Zayn. Zayn feels hot all over.

 

"I do have a pocket protector, actually," Niall says, taking a pause to laugh again, like Zayn is some kind of fun comedian instead of an awkward and currently sort of sweaty semi-adult. "My first year as a teacher, I wore this whole nerd getup for Halloween. I'll have to find a picture for you." Niall whips out his phone. Zayn refuses to attempt a joke about math teachers and numbers to segway into asking for Niall's phone number. He’ll just save it for later.

 

The picture is adorable. Everything is terrible.

 

\---

 

So just like that it becomes a thing. Every Friday there’s extra help with Niall, and Zayn isn’t sure whether he or his students look forward to it more.

 

One such Friday, Zayn can’t stop worrying about how his hair looks and Louis is teasing him mercilessly for caring so much. Zayn is hiding under the table in the teacher’s lounge again, attempting to fix his hair with the aid of his cell phone camera. It’s become sort of a safe spot for him.

 

Zayn’s given up on his hair and has begun sending terrible selfies to his sister instead when there’s a tentative knock at the door. He’s about to climb out from under the table and open the door for the student when the door starts to open on its own which, oh god, means that it must be another teacher -

 

And of course, it’s Niall.

 

“Hi,” he says cheerily to Louis. “Sorry to barge in, I was just looking for Zayn, do you know where he is? I just wanted to ask him about our extra help today,” he explains. Louis looks like he just won the lottery.

 

“Um,” Zayn says. Niall looks around the room with his eyebrows scrunched up. It would be adorable if Zayn wasn’t regretting his entire life leading up to this point.

 

“Down there,” Louis says helpfully. Zayn waves.

 

“Aha!” Niall doesn’t even ask for an explanation. Zayn is eternally grateful. “Sorry if I’m disturbing you or anything, I just wanted to let you know that I might have to leave a bit early today for a soccer match.”

 

“You play?” Louis asks.

 

“Yep!” Niall smiles, sitting in the chair Zayn had left empty, effectively trapping him under the table. Zayn unapologetically stares at Niall’s body while he can be sure Niall’s face can’t see him do it. It’s nice. “It’s me and a couple of the gym teachers, and their friends. It’s a casual league but we have a good time. Why, you play?” he asks.

 

“I used to in college, but I haven’t really in a while” Louis explains. “I’ve been wondering if there was anybody out here who played. Do you know any teams looking for an extra man?”

 

“Actually, this is sort of perfect,” Niall grins. “Liam - you know Liam, one of the gym teachers? - one of his friends plays with us sometimes, but he’s not always available. You could join us at practice some time, and see how you like us.”

 

When Niall leaves Zayn’s classroom later with Louis, leaving Zayn alone in extra help for the first time in weeks, Zayn tries valiantly not to be jealous. It’s partially successful.

 

It helps that Niall starts eating lunch with them, most days.

 

\---

 

Zayn had thought that watching Niall’s arms bulge underneath his shirtsleeves while they moved lab tables around was the worst thing that he had to endure as part of this ridiculous crush. He had honestly and truly thought that keeping a straight face during those trying times would have prepared him for this.

 

Zayn was incredibly wrong, and swallows - actually swallows - as he watches Niall run around the field with Louis and the rest of the team. It’s not that he’s even doing anything particularly hot. It’s just that seeing Niall in shorts and a jersey is totally different than seeing him in work clothes. There’s something about seeing Niall like this that feels weirdly intimate, even though there are a bunch of dudes on the field and a respectable number of people in the stands watching him too. And they’re probably being less gross about it than Zayn is.

 

Louis scores the winning goal and Zayn is on his feet cheering for him, but his eyes are on Niall.

 

After shaking hands with the losing team, Louis runs over to Zayn, pouring his water bottle over his head. “God, I missed this,” Louis says happily, shaking the water out of his hair like a dog. Zayn gives him a huge hug and lifts him in the air a bit while Louis laughs. “A bunch of us are going to the bar after we get changed, if you want to wait around for us and join,” Louis offers.

 

“It’s a Wednesday night,” Zayn protests.

 

“Exactly! It’s wing night,” Louis reasons. He starts walking towards the locker room. “Niall will be there,” he fake-casually calls over his shoulder.

 

Zayn is trapped and Louis knows it. “Fine, but you’re driving.”

 

\---

 

Zayn’s relatively new in town, so he’s never really been out other than happy hour or Saturday nights with Louis. There’s a decidedly different atmosphere at 7PM on a weekday, with the setting sun streaming in through the windows, twinkle lights supplementing the dim lighting, and groups of friends or couples eating dinner. Zayn hadn’t even known that the place had a kitchen.

 

They order a round at the bar and have some trouble finding a spot to sit. The reason for this becomes clear once Zayn sees that about a third of the tables have been removed for a tiny stage and what must be a small dance floor. It’s empty for now though, so Louis and Niall’s friend Liam start pushing a few tables together while Zayn and Niall’s friend Harry gather some chairs. The conversation is mostly about the game and teasing Harry, who is apparently dating their opponent’s goalie, for being too soft on him during the match.

 

Zayn is content to listen and laugh at the right moments. They seem like a fun crowd. He’s been so stressed about keeping his new job that he hadn’t really made any effort to make new friends here, and he hopes he can fit in with Niall’s group.

 

He glances over at Niall to find him slapping his hand on the table, eyes alight as he drives some point home in his conversation with Liam. His blonde hair is sticking up at weird angles and his face is flushed from the combination of the exertion of the match and possibly the alcohol. His laugh is infectious and Zayn feels a sappy smile start to form on his face, which he quickly hides with his glass of beer. Master of stealth, Zayn is.

 

The purpose of the dance floor is revealed when one of the bartenders grabs the microphone to announce a popular local jazz band will be starting a set in ten minutes. More and more couples have been coming into the bar, which is apparently a hot spot for an early date night. Louis and Niall buy everyone another round as the band starts to warm up, and Zayn feels a pleasant buzz start to settle over his limbs.

 

The band is pretty good, even though jazz isn't really Zayn's thing, but their group conversation trails off as it becomes harder to hear with the music and turns into more private conversation. Somehow during the course of the night and between trips to the bar Niall had ended up sitting on Zayn's right. He smells like shampoo and cologne from his quick shower in the locker room. Now he turns to Zayn and murmurs in his ear (to make sure he's heard over the music, Zayn reminds himself) with laughter in his voice, "Louis and Liam look like they're getting pretty cozy."

 

Zayn takes a peek over to their end of the table and sure enough, Louis' got his careful flirting face on, the one with the wide eyes, tilted head and soft smile. Zayn's only seen it once before, when Louis was so into someone that he didn't want to risk his usual over-the-top strategies. Zayn whistles, impressed. He doesn't know Liam very well but he looks so earnest and engrossed in whatever Louis is talking about that Zayn already approves.

 

Zayn turns to answer Niall and finds his face very close to his own. Zayn swallows and leans in towards Niall's ear, feeling very like he's moving to kiss his cheek. "Liam looks like a puppy, staring at him that way."

 

Niall laughs. "Should I be worried for him?" He sounds about one-half serious.

 

Zayn smiles. "Nah, Louis looks pretty far gone too. He just hides it better. Plus, Liam is exactly his type."

 

Just then the band changes into something more upbeat, and the team starts cheering as Harry gets up and starts swing dancing with his girlfriend, a tall blonde who’d joined them after she got off work. The both of them are so leggy that their awkward limbs outweigh their attempts at graceful movements, and soon Louis takes Liam’s hand and pulls him out to the dance floor, where they start imitating them. Zayn and Niall roar with laughter as Louis spins Liam right into a collision with Harry, knocking him to the ground. Louis shrugs comically for his audience and pulls Harry’s girlfriend over to dance with him instead while the two soccer players recover. She’s so much taller than Louis that Zayn has to hide his face in Niall’s shoulder to muffle his laughter.

 

Niall’s arm is around him and it’s really nice.

 

“I’m glad I became a teacher and met all you guys,” Zayn says a few minutes later, feeling contentment mixed with the thrill of being pressed up against Niall bubbling up inside him.

 

Niall speaks into Zayn’s ear and makes him shiver. “What would you have been instead?”

 

Zayn chuckles. “I wanted to be an astronaut, like full on Star Trek, the whole thing. Discover planets and like, save the galaxy.”

 

Niall sighs and leans his head on Zayn’s shoulder. “That’s the cutest thing I’ve ever heard.” Zayn gets a bit dazed at that, and tightens the arm he has around Niall’s waist. Niall smiles.

 

Once Liam and Louis get tired of dancing and come back to the table, Niall pushes his face into Zayn’s neck, sending chills throughout his body. “Do you by any chance need a cigarette? I feel like I need some air.”

 

Zayn stands up, shrugs his leather jacket on. “Wait, why would you invite me to smoke if you need air?” he asks belatedly, but Niall’s already pulling him through the crowd, stumbling over those two steps down to the exit door.

 

There’s a few people outside, so Zayn makes sure to move downwind of them before he lights up, feeling the chill of the night. He leans back and exhales, raising his eyebrows when he sees Niall looking at him. He says nothing, just comes closer to put his hands inside Zayn’s jacket. “Your hands are cold,” Zayn comments.

 

“Yeah,” Niall says. Zayn offers him a drag but he shakes his head. They stand quietly tucked together as Zayn finishes and grinds the rest into the sidewalk with his boot. He leans his head on Niall’s shoulder as Niall says “At first I was only in it for the math jokes, but I’m glad I became a teacher and met you, too.”

 

A moment later, the door to the bar opens, shocking them with the music and noise from inside as Liam and Louis spill out, wrapped up in each others arms and making out, hard, as the rest of the group jeer and egg them on. Harry looks a little worried until he spots Zayn and Niall at the corner. Niall waves with one hand, but leaves the other under Zayn’s jacket for a while. Just for the warmth, of course, Zayn tells himself.

 

“Louis,” Harry says. “Is he, um, is he always like this?” His forehead creases with a frown.

 

Zayn considers this. “Sort of? He’s always very forward, and not afraid of PDA, if that’s what you mean. He got us thrown out of a bar in college once because he and his boyfriend kept going at it.” He starts to smile at the memory, then freezes. “Wait, that’s not what happened just now, is it??”

 

Harry laughs and shakes his head. “No, no, nothing like that. Just never seen Liam like this, is all.” He doesn’t elaborate. Niall puts his second hand back under Zayn’s jacket, and keeps them there while they chat with Harry until a cab comes. Together they peel Louis off Liam and help bundle him into the cab with Zayn.

 

When he wakes up with a hangover the next morning, his jacket smells like Niall.

 

\---

 

Their lunch breaks together continue, with Liam and Harry joining them sometimes if they have a day free from both gym class and coaching. The way Louis makes eyes at Liam over his sandwich makes everyone, including Liam, a little bit uncomfortable until Niall starts mimicking him and making comically disgusting eyes at Zayn, who laughs a little extra hard to help ignore the way his stomach flutters at that.

 

He doesn’t realize just how much trouble he’s in until he’s watching one of the soccer practices, enjoying the last bit of warmth before winter sets in while he grades that week’s homework assignments. Liam’s on the sidelines this week, some kind of ankle injury that Zayn very pointedly does not ask for the story behind, just in case it involves some weird sex thing with Louis. He doesn’t need to be thinking about Liam in that way. Ever.

 

He goes back to grading. Niall had helped Zayn write the week’s problem set on Monday, making up ridiculous word problem scenarios featuring the students they knew well, or even their own group of friends.

 

_Harry and Niall are playing soccer. Harry is goalie, and Niall is attempting to score from 15 meters away. If Harry’s head is 1.8 meters above the ground, and Niall’s kick gives the ball a velocity of 25 meters per second, what is the smallest angle Niall needs to kick the ball at in order to fly over Harry’s head and into the goal? The acceleration due to gravity is 9.8 meters per second squared. Ignore air resistance._

_BONUS: What angle does Niall need to kick the ball at in order to hit Harry in the face?_

 

Zayn had had to veto Niall’s suggestion of offering an extra bonus point in exchange for a drawing of the second scenario. Niall then drew one himself and hung it on Zayn’s blackboard with a magnet clip.

 

He tries to concentrate on his work, but keeps looking up every time Liam cheers to see what’s happened and then watches Niall until he realizes that he’s gotten distracted. After about five minutes of Zayn gazing at Niall while he’s leaned over, catching his breath while braced with his arms on his knees, Liam clears his throat.

 

“Um,” Liam says apologetically. “Your paper flew away about a minute ago.”

 

Zayn snaps his head up to see his answer key twenty feet away. “Shit,” he mutters as he runs to grab it before the wind takes it further. “Thanks, man.”

 

 

“No problem,” Liam smiles. Liam’s actually really nice, Zayn thinks, at least when he’s not being gross with Louis.

 

Zayn’s eyes find Niall on the field again, and Zayn sighs. He’s throwing his head back and laughing at something, and he’s brighter in Zayn’s vision than the sun that’s shining on him. “Liam,” he says. “I think I’m in love with Niall.” It should feel weirder to say that out loud, Zayn thinks inanely.

 

“I know,” Liam says in a gentle voice. “Did you - did you just figure it out?”

 

“I guess so,” Zayn says, glum. He lays down on the grass and Liam pats his shoulder. “What do I do now?”

 

“I don’t know,” Liam says. “I think he likes you.”

 

 

“He likes everybody. I’ve literally never heard him say a bad word about anybody. He’s so great,” Zayn says miserably, covering his face with his hands.

 

“Just hang out with him more, maybe. Like, just you two. See what happens,” Liam suggests.

 

Zayn considers this radical idea. “I’m going to keep you around,” Zayn declares. Liam turns pink.

 

\---

 

Zayn stares at the envelope on his desk and considers saying a prayer before he picks it up with shaking hands.

 

Inside that envelope are the graded Scantrons from his students’ midterm exams. Considering how bad their first quarter grades had been, the results from this exam could basically make or break Zayn’s staying on at this school. There’d been a steady rise in their grades since he’d started the extra help sessions with Niall, but what if it hadn’t carried over? What if he’d spent too much time on the math and not enough time on the concepts? What if -

 

“Hey,” Niall says, gently taking the envelope out of Zayn’s grip. Zayn blinks. He hadn’t even heard Niall come in the room. “I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

 

Zayn thumps his head down onto the desk. “You can’t know that. What if they all failed? What if even half of them failed? That’s so many, that’s HALF, oh my god, what if I lose my job, I’ll never be able to work as a teacher again, I’ll have to get a roommate again to afford rent, they’ll probably be weird and never do the dishes, I’ll have to work in retail again, I’ll have to, to...fold shirts badly,” he finishes lamely, all out of steam.

 

“The class average was an 87,” Niall says. Zayn whips his head up to make sure Niall isn’t joking. He doesn’t think Niall would joke about something like this, but he also can’t believe his ears.

 

“What,” Zayn croaks.

 

Niall is grinning. “See for yourself!” He hands the results summary over.

 

Zayn stares. It’s almost too good to be true. “Oh my god.” He looks back up at Niall. “Oh my god. They did it. We did it.” He jumps up. “Oh my god!” Niall jumps up too and pulls Zayn into a hug, spinning him around off the ground as Zayn laughs, feeling the stress of the last few months finally, finally slide off his shoulders. By the time his feet are set back on the ground, Zayn feels like himself enough to notice the way his chest is pressing up against Niall’s. Not to mention the fact that Niall just picked him up like nothing, holy shit.

 

“Oh my god,” Zayn breathes, leaning back to look up at Niall. His hands have slid to Niall’s shoulders and Niall’s got his hands on Zayn’s waist still. It’d be so easy to just kiss him, Zayn thinks, a little lightheaded.

 

“Congrats,” Niall smiles down at him. Neither of them move for a moment.

 

“I should -” Zayn starts, just as Niall asks, “Do you -” They laugh and Zayn moves his hands to push through his hair nervously, breaking the spell. Niall takes his hands off Zayn, takes a step back. Zayn mourns what could have been.

 

“See you at Harry’s tomorrow?” Niall asks softly, not looking at Zayn.

 

God, Zayn’s gone and fucked it up by acting like a lovesick creep. He swallows, and summons some fake cheer. “Yup, see you there!” He smiles, but Niall doesn’t look at him again before he leaves the room.

 

“Great,” Zayn says to the empty room.

 

\---

 

Zayn doesn’t know what he was expecting when he arrives at Harry’s for the end-of-semester party, but kegs (plural) and a professional-looking DJ were not it. When he finds Harry and holds up the six pack he brought as an offering, though, Harry’s smile still gets wide and he still thanks him with genuine happiness in his eyes. Or maybe just genuine vodka.

 

It turns out that a friend of Harry’s works at the beverage distributor in town, the DJ is Nick, one of Harry’s friends, and there’s food in the kitchen from the local Italian restaurant, whose head chef is, again, one of Harry’s friends. The party is supposedly Christmas themed, but the only nods to the holiday itself are the stacks of red and green solo cups and a single piece of mistletoe hung with a ragged green ribbon in the dead center of the room. Harry tells him about the mistletoe with a wink, and Zayn makes a mental note to avoid it at all costs. When he gets to the den, though, he finds that Louis and Liam have set up shop underneath it, and everyone is giving them a respectfully wide berth.

 

Niall smiles and waves once he sees Zayn, excusing himself from his conversation with the DJ and starting to come over to him. So maybe Niall doesn’t totally hate him after...whatever it was that happened in the classroom, Zayn thinks. It’s comforting, but also ties his stomach in knots when Niall finally reaches him and pulls him into a one armed hug. “Zayn! Glad you made it!”

 

Zayn lets himself melt into the hug, just a little.

 

Once it’s clear that no awkwardness remains after their parting yesterday, Zayn convinces himself that he exaggerated the situation in his memory. There’s no way they got that close to a kiss, especially on school property. It was just Zayn’s wishful thinking.

 

Somehow it isn’t as comforting a thought as it should be.

 

Soon Harry breaks out a truly vast supply of Santa hats and an even larger supply of jello shots. Liam and Louis get evicted from underneath the mistletoe, and people start toasting anything and everything over the DJ's microphone for an excuse to take a shot.

 

Harry eventually grabs the mic, rambling, “To all my friends, you guys are the best, thank you everyone for being here toni-”

 

“To Christmas!” Louis shouts, louder than everyone without the need of a microphone. “To Liam! To alcohol!”

 

“To Harry for having us!” Nick shouts into the mic. “And I’ll be restarting the music now, thank you, please stop shouting unless it’s for me.”

 

The party starts to thin out around 2AM, and Zayn has ended up on the couch across from Louis sitting on Liam sitting in an armchair. Thankfully Louis is just petting Liam’s new buzzcut rather than sucking his face off right now.

 

“What you need to do, Zayn,” Louis tells him, with the wisdom that can only come from just the right amount of alcohol and exhaustion, “is just do it, you know? Go for it.” Liam nods solemnly.

 

“Go for...what, exactly?” Zayn asks, unsure if he wants to know the answer.

 

“LIFE.” Louis declares, opening his arms wide. Liam nods again, emphatic.

 

Niall comes over and drops heavily into the space next to Zayn. Like, right next to Zayn. Like, their thighs are touching. It’s not a big deal, though, Zayn thinks. It’s totally fine.

 

“Life,” Niall agrees.

 

“He knows what I’m saying,” Louis tells Zayn. “Get with it. Liam, where’d the mistletoe go? We need to go claim Harry’s room before someone else takes the bed.” Niall and Zayn watch them stumble blindly towards the hallway as Liam dutifully holds the mistletoe above both their heads.

 

With that, they’re alone on the couch. But other than the rapid beating of Zayn’s heart, everything is fine between them. They talk and joke like they’ve always done. They’re just not at school or at a soccer game, so they’re touching a little more than usual. It’s just a normal drunken fluidity of limbs, Zayn thinks. That’s why his legs are thrown over Niall’s lap and Niall’s hand is on his thigh. They’re totally just bros.

 

Eventually the party peters out around them, with Nick and Harry leaving for some super-late night gig at a club Nick has lined up. “Have fun guys!” Harry calls as he’s putting on his coat. “Drink some water before you go to bed! See you in the morning.”

 

“Why is Harry such a concerned dad,” Zayn asks the ceiling.

 

“It’s what he does best,” Niall says. “Wanna sleep here on the couch?”

 

Zayn wonders whether Niall is asking him if he’s sure he wants to sleep here, or if Niall is assuming they will be sleeping in the same spot and is asking for permission to join him on the couch. The combination of his anxious, sleepless night yesterday and the couple beers he had earlier wearing off make him too tired to really consider it. “Yes,” he says, not really sure what he’s agreeing to.

 

“Awesome,” Niall says, toeing off his shoes before laying down on the couch too so that their feet are sharing space in the middle as he leans the rest of his body on the armrest. Zayn revels in the touch of their ankles like some weird-ass eighteenth century freak, and falls asleep wishing they were even more tangled up.

 

Zayn wakes up a few hours later, blinking in the darkness, and tries to remember where the bathroom is. He stumbles over a couple end tables that he doesn’t remember existing but eventually makes it in to pee and brush his teeth. He finds his way back with fewer obstacles and tries to get back on the couch without waking Niall, but stubs his toe on the couch itself and swears. Niall shifts, groaning and rubbing his eyes.

 

“Sorry, Niall,” Zayn whispers. “Go back to sleep.” Niall finishes scrubbing at his face with his hand and squints at Zayn, all crinkly and grumpy. He’s even still wearing a santa hat. Zayn’s heart swells. “Hey, Zayn.” His voice is quiet and deep, and Zayn feels the blood rush out of his face.

 

“Sorry, sorry, I was just using the bathroom,” Zayn assures him, laying back down.

 

Niall yawns. “Might as well go do that as well,” he mumbles, hoisting himself up with a grunt.

 

Zayn’s fallen asleep by the time Niall gets back. “Zayn,” he hisses.

 

“Wha -” he jerks awake.

 

“Move over,” Niall laughs, shoving him over a little. Blushing, Zayn realizes that he’d taken up the whole couch once he’d nodded off. His blush only grows deeper as Niall slides onto the couch right next to Zayn. He’s thankful for the dark and hopes Niall can’t hear the way his heart has started beating double time as they arrange themselves so that they can both stretch out fully. Zayn’s eyes are an inch away from Niall’s neck. Niall pets his hair and Zayn hums at the way it sends chills through his body, thinking of the way Louis had pet Liam’s head earlier, wondering if Niall remembers it, wondering what this means, wondering if Niall -

 

“Hey Zayn,” Niall says quietly. They’re pressed so close together that Zayn can feel the rumble Niall’s voice makes in his chest. It’s nice.

 

“Yeah?” Zayn looks up and Niall’s face is right there. His eyes widen. Niall’s hand moves slowly from Zayn’s hair to cup his jaw, thumb brushing his cheekbone. Zayn forgets how to breathe, and Niall kisses him.

 

It’s just a soft press of lips, and Niall leans back to check if Zayn’s okay, which, he’s so totally not okay but he’s also the most okay he’s ever been. While waiting, Niall unconsciously licks his lips and Zayn has to groan and move his hands to Niall’s chest, just to hold on to him somehow. He pushes forward a little and catches Niall’s lower lip between his own, pulls him backwards so that Zayn is trapped between the back of the couch and Niall’s body, runs his tongue over Niall’s lip until Niall moves his hand back to Zayn’s hair. He tugs a little, experimentally, and Zayn groans again, quieter this time but also directly into Niall’s mouth this time, which is way better. Everything is way better. Everything is great. Everything is Niall pressing his tongue into Zayn’s mouth and shifting his thigh between both of Zayn’s.

 

Niall kisses just below Zayn’s ear, making him gasp. “Been wanting to do this,” he murmurs, tugging Zayn’s head back to place a wet kiss on his throat. Zayn pushes his hands up underneath Niall’s shirt to feel the heat of his skin. “Been wanting you for a while.”

 

Zayn has to kiss him again then, has to find out how those words make Niall’s mouth taste. Niall eventually loses his shirt, and Zayn ends up on top of him, running his hands all over the shoulders and chest he’s been pretending not to stare at for so long. He leans over to bite at Niall’s collarbone, his movement back into a sitting position causing Zayn to accidentally grind down on him. They both choke back a moan, and Zayn runs his hands down Niall’s stomach, going for his belt before Niall grabs his wrists and stops him.

 

Zayn pouts. He leans back down, kissing Niall in a way that he hopes is dirty and convincing. “Please?”

 

Niall lets out a long breath. “Wow. You’re a hard sell, Zayn.” He reaches up to brush his fingers over Zayn’s lips, swearing when Zayn sucks one finger into his mouth. Zayn swirls his tongue around it and Niall bucks his hips. “But no. I want - I want to do this at least partly the way I imagined it, Zayn, which means I want to do it in my bed. Or I could settle for your bed,” he considers. “Just not on Harry’s couch.”

 

“You imagined this?” Zayn asks, reeling.

 

“Of course,” Niall says. “Like a billion times.” He runs his fingers down Zayn’s neck to tangle in his shirt and pull him down for another kiss. “I’m kind of serious about you, Zayn,” he says quietly, smoothing his hands down Zayn’s back to rest on top of his ass.

 

Zayn presses his face into Niall’s chest for a minute to process everything. “I really wanted to kiss you in my classroom yesterday,” he says. He looks up to find Niall smiling back. “But I thought you didn’t feel the same.”

 

“Thought wrong,” Niall says simply, like that settles everything. He rolls them over onto their sides and they kiss until they fall asleep, the dawn light peeking through the curtains.

 

\---

 

The science department is so impressed with Zayn’s grade improvements and his extra help sessions with Niall that they start up a new series of interdepartmental meetings to discuss ways to better bridge gaps in students’ understanding of interdisciplinary aspects of math and science. Zayn gets a glowing performance review. Zayn is reportedly literally glowing since he’s started dating Niall, but those reports are mostly from Harry and are probably exaggerated.

 

It’s the third extra help session of the new semester, and Zayn is watching Niall help the last straggler with some tricky bit of calculus. He’s trying not to stare, but really, Niall is bent over the desk in a way that’s putting both his ass and his shoulders on full display and it’s totally unfair. Zayn can’t be expected to stay professional in the face of such an onslaught.

 

Zayn goes to make sure he’s packed all the papers he needs to grade and remembers that he left his bag in the breakroom earlier. He slides off the desk, walking towards the door. “Don’t mean to interrupt guys, I just need to run and get something from the office so I’m gonna step out for a minute.”

 

“Okay, Mr. Malik,” his student says absently.

 

“Okay, Mr. Malik,” Niall echoes.

 

Zayn freezes. Coughs. Niall looks back over one shoulder and raises his eyebrows, a shit-eating grin starting to grow over his face as he puts it together. Zayn chokes and basically runs outside.

 

He lights a cigarette with shaking hands and spends the next five minutes trying to calm his heart rate. He’s never even really been into the whole teacher-student fantasy, he’s actually always found it a bit creepy, but - Niall’s never called him that before, and. It’s a lot. God.

 

By the time he makes his way back inside, he finds the student leaving and Niall packing up. The second the door is closed behind the student, Zayn flips Niall off, sliding into his desk chair with a groan.

 

“Ooh Mr. Malik, I need some extra credit,” Niall teases, coming closer and batting his eyelashes.

 

“Shut up,” Zayn groans. “I’ve never heard you call me that before.”

 

“Did you really like it though?” Niall says, smirking. “I think you really liked it.”

 

“I really like you,” Zayn says helplessly. Niall comically makes sure the coast is clear before kissing him quickly, taking his hand. They sit for a minute as Zayn finishes shutting down the computer and packing up.

 

He’s reaching for his travel coffee mug when Niall leans over and palms him through the front of his pants. “Please, Mr. Malik, sir, let me show you how much I want an A.”

 

Fin

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
